Judge: Teacher wrongly fired for alleged choking

The Broward School District should never have fired a teacher accused of choking a student, after trusting the allegations of a boy with a history of lying and a co-worker who seemed more interested in enjoying the sun than protecting a child, a state judge wrote in a scathing report.

Ava Williams, 56, was fired in June as a third grade teacher at Watkins Elementary in Pembroke Park. But the district should reinstate her with back pay, recommended Administrative Law Judge John G. Van Laningham. Williams, who has worked for the district since 1998, made about $65,000 a year at the time of her dismissal. She couldn’t be reached for comment in phone calls Friday.

A district complaint alleged that in September 2018, a boy in Williams’ class slammed his chair against his desk, and the teacher “proceeded to grab [him] around the neck and choke him,” while yelling, “Do you hear me!”

The boy, referred to in the report by his initials P.P., also alleged Williams called him a “lying, fat pig” after he and his mother reported the teacher to the school’s assistant principal. Another teacher at Watkins told investigators Williams admitted the allegation to her.

But Van Laningham shredded the district’s case, bluntly writing that he didn’t believe the teacher’s accusers.

“To begin with — and this is undisputed — P.P. is a liar,” the judge wrote. “That is a harsh word, ‘liar,’ one that the undersigned does not use lightly, especially with reference to a child witness. But here it is an accurate description. P.P. admitted under oath that he tells lies quite often, including to teachers. He has lied to get other students in trouble, among other things.”

His story also made no sense and didn’t describe choking, Van Laningham wrote.

The boy claimed that on the morning of the alleged incident, Williams lined up the students in her class to walk with them to lunch but required the boy to stay behind, the report said.

“According to P.P., after everyone else had left, Williams stood in front of him and touched his throat with her open hand for one second, never squeezing, pushing, or making any movement at all — nor causing any pain — before withdrawing.”

Williams’s account was more believable, the judge wrote, saying she instructed the children to clean up for lunch, but the boy sat at his desk and refused to move. Another student said something to anger P.P., and he pushed a chair into the student.

“Without touching P.P., Williams raised her voice and said to him loudly, “Do you hear me now?” She instructed the other students to leave for lunch and began walking toward the door herself. P.P. followed Williams and then exited the classroom ahead of his teacher, who had waited at the door for him. At this point, the incident was over,” the judge wrote.

The district’s only other witness was Watkins teacher Shawony Russell, who testified that Williams confided to her that she choked the boy.